There are only three Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) events left in 2025 — UFC Qatar, UFC 323, and UFC Vegas 112 — before the promotion’s long-running ESPN era officially ends and the mega new Paramount deal kicks in. And until today, the 2026 fight calendar was a complete blank.
Not anymore.
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According to MMA Fighting, surging Light Heavyweight contender Modestas Bukauskas will face No. 13-ranked Nikita Krylov on Sat., Jan. 24, 2026, at UFC 324. MMAmania.com can confirm that Jan. 24 will indeed mark UFC’s first event of 2026, taking place inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Bukauskas (19-6) has enjoyed an impressive career resurgence since re-signing with UFC in 2023 after a two-year absence. “The Baltic Gladiator” has rattled off four straight victories — three by finish — including his statement knockout over Paul Craig at UFC Paris, which sent “Bearjew” into retirement (watch highlights).
A win in January will almost certainly punch Bukauskas’ ticket into the Light Heavyweight Top 15.
Krylov (30-11) has long been one of the division’s toughest outs, but the Ukrainian veteran now finds himself in the second two-fight skid of his UFC career. He was recently knocked out by Bogdan Guskov in the first round (watch highlights), and before that, suffered another knockout loss to two-time former title challenger Dominick Reyes at UFC 314 (watch highlights).
UFC 324 currently has no other fights on the books, but more matchups are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
To checkout UFC’s upcoming schedule of events click here.
